10,769 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Acquired by Sfm LLC

Sfm LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 10,769 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,682,000. Alphabet comprises 1.2% of Sfm LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $175.88 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $164.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.